Debated in Parliament on 9 Jan 2023.
Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Manpower what is the current percentage of monthly CPF Ordinary Account contributions being used to service (i) HDB housing loans obtained through HDB Loan Eligibility (HLE) Letters and (ii) property loans from financial institutions for HDB flats and private property, broken down by income quintile.
The median percentages of the monthly Central Provident Fund (CPF) Ordinary Account (OA) contributions withdrawn to service (i) Housing and Development Board (HDB) housing loans, (ii) loans from Financial Institutions (FIs) for HDB flats and (iii) loans from FIs for private properties by income quintile among CPF members who had made housing instalments as at December 2021 are shown in Table 1 below.
The CPF system was designed to assist Singaporeans to own their homes and to service their mortgages with little or no out-of-pocket cash. Together with a commitment and policy to keep public housing affordable and accessible, and with many Singaporeans tapping on their OA savings, the CPF system has helped Singaporeans achieve their aspirations to own their homes.
In addition, our CPF system is also designed to assist members to save for their future retirement and healthcare needs, by allocating a proportion of members' CPF contributions to their Special and MediSave Accounts. These accounts cannot be used for housing.
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